scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
It can't get to Mississauga without going to East Mall first...it's an obviously worthwhile little extension. Cheap, too*
*Provided the guy who costed the Spadina extension is kept away from this one.
Toronto Kipling Station Transit Hub | ?m | 2s | Metrolinx | SAI
- Thread starter drum118
- Start date
It can't get to Mississauga without going to East Mall first...it's an obviously worthwhile little extension. Cheap, too*
*Provided the guy who costed the Spadina extension is kept away from this one.
adma
Superstar
Whaddaya mean, they can avoid the East Mall easy. Just take the thing down the spur line to Horner, then follow the tracks past Long Branch GO, and then have the train float on an elevated whoozis up Dixie or Cawthra or something. Maybe it's worth getting the train away from the East Mall. Might catch East Mall-itis or something
Observer Walt
Senior Member
East Mall-itis? Near-derelict shopping malls and hotels not updated since the 1970s? Better by far to just extend it out to Dixie, without even stopping at East Mall. 
adma
Superstar
Actually, Valhalla's not-updated-since-the-70sness is its own best virtue. (Architecturally, that is. As opposed to the cougars on the prowl...)
unimaginative2
Senior Member
That's hardly true. It's a tight fit, but it's really just a glorified gazebo obstructing the route. The TTC claimed the cost of the underground alignment at close to a billion dollars. For that, you could buy and demolish the entire condo about a hundred times over, not that it would even be necessary.
drum118
Superstar
Is TTC and the City in the position to fight a major law suite to demolish that condo to extend the line west along the rail corridor?
Tunneling is well under billion and more like $600-$700 m range.
Time to get into the precast tunneling business.
It would be cheaper than doing a cut and build in place as being well faster to build the extension.
You build the precast sections first, start digging, drop sections in, post tension, back fill in matter of a week/2 per per section subject to relocation of utilities.
At the same time work is taking place placing the precast tunnel, digging is taking place for the next section or 2. If done between May-October, rain is the only weather that will effect construction work for the tunnel. The new terminal would be well under way.
Once the first 1/4 is done, track work and other wiring would start.
Dundas gets reduce to 1 lane each way during construction and love to see it reduce to 2 lanes after construction. Traffic folks will love this.
You build a casting plant on the Honeydale land and only come a short haul to move the section to site.
You could shift the main rail line south, but will have an impact on the container yard and lead tracks to it. Don't forget this is the junction for the Lakeshore main line for CP.
Lets tear down some of the business along the south side and build a new container yard and help redeveloped the industrial land at the same time.
Work, live and shop all in the same area. Sounds great.
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
The condo won't need to be demolished! It's just that buying and demolishing it would be cheaper than tunnelling unnecessarily. There's almost 100 feet between the GO tracks and the tower, more than enough to run two subway tracks...the only question is if something like the condo's parking garage is underneath the edge of the lot.
Voltz
Senior Member
On most condo buildings, the undergound levels go right out to the property line, on this building it looks like the parking levels do cross the path of the subway line
Dan416
Senior Member
I haven't been to Kipling recently, but I do remember that they built some above-ground parking right in the path of a future extension of the B-D line. But it wasn't anything that couldn't be torn down again. Not too sure about any underground stuff though.
unimaginative2
Senior Member
Look at the site. There's a gazebo in the path of the line, that's all. Underground, there's probably a garage, but that shouldn't affect an above-ground rail line other than the need for reinforcement. If they need to lose some of their garage space, the TTC could build another 20 spaces or whatever elsewhere on the vast empty land. Maximum cost of all of that: $10 million, even with the TTC's talent for profligate spending.
Voltz
Senior Member
looking at the site from a perspective other than google maps would tell you that the underground structure that the "gazebo" sits on top of actually goes one level above ground. So if the tracks where to be extended on the surface they would run into a one story high concrete wall.
khris
Senior Member
There is somethign above ground there for sure.
RedRocket191
Senior Member
I am not a civil engineer, but I am have a strong background in the subject. I'm thinking that modifying the underground garage walls could compromise the structural integrity of the entire building. Retrofitting would be extremely costly.
lordmandeep
Banned
why not go under the Go train tracks...
jeicow
Active Member
Ding ding ding. That pretty much hit the nail on the head. You also have to take into account that the stabilizing equipment for the structure is probably concentrated in that area of the building the most (depends on the eng. firm who did it). Even if you could find a way to get rid of the garage without making the building unsafe, you'd somehow need to change the entire foundation of the new "solo" building, unless your willing to stop letting trains run on the track, since the ground vibrations would lead to even greater problems, especially depending on the resonance.